About
Samar Singh Virdi is an Architect, Photographer and Filmmaker..
He is the youngest contestant ever on National Geographic Channel’s Cover Shot Season 4: Heritage City. In which he qualified till the grand finale. 16 professional photographers were shortlisted from all over India.
In 2016 Samar covered Ladakh for an assignment with National Geographic Traveller India and Vivo India, in which he was featured as a photographer covering the region. The film is titled #Lenscape and has garnered over one million views on Youtube.
Samar’s film, ‘ilm’ received the special jury award at the National Youth Film Festival 2015 held in Goa and also received the first runners up at the Reel to Real national film festival 2015 held in Delhi. Along with commercial and event films, Samar’s film portfolio has spanned over feature film experience, Punjabi music videos, long format writing, short film workshops and documentary filmmaking.
He has also been a part of various campaigns for mobile phone cameras with Vivo, Honor, Oneplus and more. His clients include; Lo’real Paris, The Getty conservation institute, University of Liverpool, Hero Future Energies, Apollo Tyres and more.
He is ranked as one of the top 10 photographers to follow on instagram in the country by various online publications such as HuffPost, Buzzfeed, Homegrown, Youth ki Awaaz; Other featuring links are Apple, Verve Magazine, The Hindu, News18, Condé Nast Traveller, Hhub, Greaves Travel, Times of India, French Books on India, Asian Age, The Tribune, Indian Express and more.
Samar is a graduate in B.B.Sc and B.Arch. from Chandigarh College of Architecture (C.C.A), Panjab University , his B.Arch. thesis was titled, 'Rendezvous @ 17 - A Cultural and Entertainment Centre' which focused on the footfall revitalization of Sector 17, Chandigarh by developing new infrastructure adopted from the historic building drawings.
In the last semester of his graduation, Samar underwent practical training (internship) at CSIR-Central Building Research Institute, I.I.T. Roorkee under Dr. Ashok Kumar where he worked on high altitude low carbon housing for Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).
In the second half of 2022, he enrolled in a post-graduate course Environmental Management at Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, Karnataka and has completed is research dissertation titled, 'Eco-benign Architecture Integrated with Principles of Vastu Shastra' which received an A-Grade. Alongside the course Samar also worked as a project assistant for Dr. T.V. Ramachandra at EWRG, Indian Institute of Science.
After receiving his Architectural Licensure from the Council of Architecture, Samar practiced independently for one year in Chandigarh completing 8 projects in North India for multiple clients.
He joined the Central Building Research Institute (CSIR-CBRI), Roorkee in December 2023 as a Associate Architect - I in the Architecture and Planning Department. At CBRI, Samar specialised in energy efficient architecture and affordable housing, completing various national level government projects. During his tenure he also conducted in-depth research in the subjects; Energy Efficiency of Traditional Architecture of Uttarakhand and Climate Resilient Building Design Guidelines for India. After 6 months of service he was promoted to the post of Associate Architect - II.
During this year he was also invited as a guest lecturer by the Department of Architecture and Planning, IIT Roorkee for the masters and PhD batches specifically for sustainable architecture and Environmental Impact Assessment.
In 2025 he joined Arkance India as a Sr. BIM Specialist in Architecture with the role of providing expert training and consultancy in advanced architectural software to architects and architecture students. Within this role he also hold the position of guest faculty at Chitkara School of Planning and Architecture for the subject of Computer Applications.
For architectural portfolio please visit this page.
For photography feed you can visit his instagram.
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